This past weekend (March 5-6), the Unlimited hydroplane category of APBA held our annual rules meeting and awards banquet at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. The Maloof brothers and the Palms are the sponsors of our Top Qualifier award at each race.

These meetings once again reminded me that after 44 years of boat racing, a lot has not changed. We still circle our wagons and shoot inward, we still eat our young and we still believe “someone” will fix things.

That said, we also have a rich heritage of volunteers who make everything work year after year. In our category’s case and APBA’s, that’s been more than 106 years. Somehow, while the owners and drivers are fighting—much of the time over chicken poop—these volunteers still pull it all together.

Whether they are officials, timers, scorers, pit workers, crane operators, patrol boat divers and drivers, you name it—these people are always there and are truly the unsung heroes of powerboat racing. They could care less for our internal bickering, they like the people and what happens on the water. I think it’s much akin to those of us who like sausage; if we actually saw how it was made, we likely wouldn’t eat it.

Next time you and other racers are gathered together complaining about what’s wrong, who did what to who, how the rules need to be changed (to accommodate you), what we need on TV, etc., take a look around. You’ll find your discussion group is small, as in tiny.

NASCAR works because one guy, Bill France, told the good ol’ boys how it was going to be, and made them rich by following his lead. And no one, including the likes of Roger Penske, argued with him. (Penske did with Indy Car and CART and we can all see how well that worked.)

In boat racing, we’ve rarely enjoyed a benevolent big daddy like France. It’s been our own wallets or those of our owners that have entitled each of them to determine what was best for the sport. As we know, these folks come and go and leave their crap in the wake.

We’ve had moments of greater vision, from folks like the late Gene Whipp in offshore or Gary Garbrecht in our category. Gene and Gary have both passed on. In their time, many assailed them as dictators, uncooperative, etc. So we returned to leadership by the group … and you can clearly see what that’s led to. Gene and Gary made national TV happen, brought out large fields, many races, lots of repeat events and so forth.

This might sound like a frustrated racer, it’s not. I’m pragmatic—this is the way it is and will likely always be. I would ask of you the same I do of myself. Look around, we’re a small group. We can only keep shooting each other so long until no one is left standing. It’s like the last two cannibals who finally realize what they’ve arrived at, albeit too late. We need to embrace and never quit thanking the people outside of our tiny group of insiders who are always there.

The men and women who show up, make the race site raceable, close it up when it’s done, and find great joy in the doing thereof. For me, thank you to everyone who makes what we do on the water possible, in spite of ourselves. You’re my heroes.